Vizio E65-c3 Local Dimming Issues, troubles and Problems
12I recently purchused the E series 65 inch 1080p tv from Vizio after my older 55 Inch XVT553SV.
Now here is the trouble I'm experiencing. with my old tv I would have visible blooming with something like credits or stars.. in many cases I would even see stars (like the intro to SW:ANH) vanish until more detail was on screen. This does not happen with the E65.
however, what does happen is that when credits roll or if there are small patches of bright surrounded by black I get flickering. This happens a lot on faces in bright sun.. etc.. and is clearly visible with this ROKU logo on the screen.
When I turn local dimming off.. of course the issue goes away.. but so do the amazing blacks..
** Update **
I spoke to Vizio Tech Support about this issue. I was a little amazed by their response. You see.. when my older 55 inch XVT was running this was not an issue. Like I said before, the TV had blooming, but it was acceptable. From what I can tell now, Vizio darkens the output of the zones to reduce the blooming effect, rather than just accepting that you're going to have some unless you have a 1000 zones..
Anyways.. what shocked me so much about all of this was Vizio's response to my concern... I'll include the snippet below and some reference chat to support it.
Chat Started: Wednesday, March 30, 2016, 17:22:22 (-0500)
Chat Origin: Live Chat
Agent Jessica
( 3m 18s ) Jessica: Can you give me more detail on the exact issue you're seeing?
( 3m 53s ) Spada: Sure.. I can explain it and show it if you like.. I uploaded a video to youtube.. but basically..
( 4m 27s ) Spada: the local dimming seems to flicker in high contrast scenes where the bright areas are smaller than the zones and cross over them..
( 5m 2s ) Spada: for example. a character in a movie in bright sun.. but who has shadow on his face from a tree above..
( 5m 18s ) Spada: causes the bright areas on his face to dim and brighten randomly
( 5m 38s ) Spada: its very evident with the Roku screen saver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RmRDUjORes
( 6m 31s ) Spada: i just need to know if this is how the local dimming algorithm works or if there is an issue.. and if i could expect more or the same from the M65..
( 7m 26s ) Spada: to put it into context, I've had a 55 vizio for 5 years.. and though local dimming there gave me bloom.. it never flickered like this..
( 7m 51s ) Jessica: Give me a few minutes to look into this, please.
( 10m 5s ) Jessica: If you turn off the Active LED Zones setting does this issue stop?
( 10m 55s ) Spada: yes..
( 12m 27s ) Jessica: This is how the setting will make the picture function. I would suggest keeping that setting turned off. I apologize for the inconvenience.
( 13m 35s ) Spada: that's unfortunate since the tv's technology revolves around local dimming and those 16 zones.. but thank you for your assistance today Jessica
There you have it.. If you want a great affordable TV and you want it because it's company champions the fact it has local dimming then you should look elsewhere. The sad part, is even though local dimming in these models is complete trash, it's still an incredibly great tv for the price. However, I'm going to have to take mine back since the price is only $50 dollars less than their 4k version now on sale and get that one.. even with local dimming off, you can't buy a 65" 4k tv at that price anywhere.